Kellogg's Bumps up Fiber in Some Special K Cereals

 With its "Special K Challenge", Special K has gone to great lengths to advertise the link between its cereal and weight loss. The "Challenge" is to make 3 of your 4 small daily meals either Special K cereal or one of their bar or shake products. The problem is, that while its low in calories (110 cals per cup), regular Special K has almost no fiber - it leaves you feeling hungry shortly after eating.

This week though, Kellogg's has announced that it is reformulating some of its cereals with added fiber. The FDA says that in order to call your product a "good source of dietary fiber", it has to have 2.5 - 4.9 grams per serving. (A "high fiber" food has 5 or more.) The newly revised Special K cereals have 3 grams of fiber.

There will be no changes to the original Special K product, so that product will go on letting you down shortly after breakfast! For some better breakfast ideas, check out these previous posts on oatmeal, breakfast sandwiches and high fiber muffins.

What's Up With Sun Chips?

People trying to lose weight know that chips probably shouldn't be a big component of their diet. But what's the deal with Sun Chips? If you have to have a chip, aren't Sun Chips the best bet?

I - along with most registered dietitians - am confused as to how Sun Chips obtained their "health halo". Sure, they have 30% less fat than regular potato chips, but that alone does not a health food make! 

Sun Chips have the same basic recipe as all chips: starch fried in fat. Granted, Sun Chips went to the effort to include whole wheat and whole oat flour as the starch they're frying (along with corn).

When it comes to fiber, Sun Chips traditionally had 2 grams of fiber for the 18 grams of whole grain they advertise (per 1 oz serving - you try stopping at 1 oz, about 16 chips). You can see the 2 grams of fiber reviewed in a 2009 blog review by another dietitian. 

Now, in 2010, I noticed that Sun Chips are mysteriously touting 3 grams of fiber, for that same 18 grams of whole grain and 1 oz serving. Understanding how this happened probably requires an advanced degree in Food Manufacturer Sorcery - but more likely, it has to do with decreasing white flour and increasing whole grain flours (but still frying it all up in sunflower oil).

While Sun Chips aren't the worst of the worst when it comes to nutritional profile for chips (Frito Lay's Fritos are) - keep in mind that Sun Chips are a SOMETIMES food. An occasional one-ounce serving of Sun Chips with 140 calories, 6 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber isn't going to kill you. But don't think they're going to be the basis of a healthy whole-grain based diet. 

You should be looking for minimally processed, naturally occurring whole grains to fill the base of your diet. For a list of whole grain ideas, check out this previous post with its list of whole grains and not whole grains.

Small Victory: Whole Wheat Bread Sales Outpace White Bread in the Past Year

Finally: wheat bread sales outpace white bread!

An August 1, 2010 Chicago Tribune article covered bread sales in the past year, citing a Nielsen Co. report that for the 52 weeks ending July 10, wheat bread sales increased 0.6% to $2.6 billion as white bread sales declined 7% to $2.5 billion. White bread still leads in volume of loaves sold - but because whole grain and whole wheat breads cost more per loaf, their total sales came out on top.

The primary impetus for the boost in sales appears to be increasing consumer knowledge about the benefits and sources of whole grains. But there is obviously a lot more educating to be done...

This story's victim is Kendra Frost, a first-time single mom with her own small business who says, "I like the whole grain, but I usually try and go with the least expensive whole grain...I look for the thick pieces that you can see the grains on the top of the bread." 

Kendra - darling, you have fallen for the oldest trick in the book! Manufacturers LOVE to take (cheap) white bread, dye it brown & sprinkle it with grainy-looking stuff to make you THINK it's whole grain. It might have a speck of whole grain in the recipe, but the likelihood of that bread being 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat is nil! 

The proof is in the Nutrition Facts panel and the Ingredients List. If your bread doesn't say at least 3 grams of dietary fiber per slice and if the first ingredient isn't Whole Wheat or Whole Grain Flour - put it back on the shelf! 

But congratulations to all of you out there who HAVE your learned your lesson and who are making highly refined grain processors think twice about littering our aisles with  worthless white bread! 

What's with the Omega-3s in Subway's New 9-Grain Bread?

Subway counters have recently begun displaying a laminated card with nutrition information for their "NEW 9-Grain With Omega 3 (ALA)" bread. With all the added omega-3 ALA, is this bread any healthier than their traditional wheat bread? 

First of all - don't be fooled by any omega-3 product that touts the benefits of ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). Food manufacturers want you to confuse ALA with the two healthier types of omega-3 fatty acids: EPA & DHA. EPA & DHA are found in fatty fish like salmon and trout and fish oil capsules and have demonstrated positive effects on brain and neurological development. 

The American Heart Association recommends an average of 400-500 mg EPA + DHA per day for people without heart disease and 1,000 mg for people with heart disease. Eating 2-3 servings of fish per week averages out to somewhere between 500-1,000 mg EPA + DHA per day; people who don't eat fish should consider getting their EPA + DHA from fish oil capsules.

ALA is the type of omega-3 found in flax, soy, and canola; it's a shorter-chain fatty acid that no doubt has health benefits, but not nearly the beneficial effects of EPA & DHA. Our bodies convert very little ALA to EPA and no ALA to DHA. So the bottom line is, most people stand to benefit from increasing the amount of EPA + DHA in their diets but don't have to worry about increasing ALA which is found in adequate amounts in most people's diets.

There's no nutritional information on this new bread on Subway's website, but the posters at Subway say a 230 calorie 6" serving has 4 grams of fiber and 500 mg of ALA, with no mention of EPA + DHA (the only type of omega-3 fatty acids you probably should be consuming more of). The highest fiber traditional sandwich bread at Subway is a 6" Honey-Oat bread has 280 calories and 5 grams of fiber. There are no 100% whole wheat options in 6" size; but, for a lot less calories, the Subway breakfast sandwiches on English Muffins have 5 grams of fiber.

And, despite some of Subway's nutritional shortcomings, they do have a sweet custom gift card you can design on their website with your own photo. To check it out: click here.

Cherries: What a Drupe

What's a drupe? It's a fruit that has a fibrous outer cover, fleshy middle and one pit or stone - also called stone fruit. Drupes include peaches, plums, and at this time of year - the ubiquitous cherry. 

Cherry season peaks in the summer, and according to the "Fruits and Veggies Matter" page on cherries, if you're buying cherries past August, they probably aren't fresh, but brought out of cold storage.

Bing cherries are the most prominent and popular sweet cherry variety. They're deep red and turn almost black when they're the most ripe. Ranier cherries are also sweet - and expensive, because fewer are grown - they are lighter in color, almost yellowish.

From a nutritional standpoint, cherries are a nutritional powerhouse. One cup of cherries has 90 calories and 4 grams of fiber. Watch out for dried cherries, they often have added sugar and less fiber per serving than the whole fruit varieties.

To learn more about cherries, visit the Cherry Marketing Institute's website www.choosecherries.com and their nutrition page. If you're not sure what to do with cherries beyond making cherry pie, the ChooseCherries site also has recipes, along with a number of recipes from Registered Dietitian Ellie Krieger of the Food Network.

Gut Check: Do Chicory Inulin Products Cause GI Distress?

The June 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features an article entitled "Gastrointestinal Tolerance of Chicory Inulin Products." In it, researchers from the University of  Minnesota (and Cargill, Inc.) set out to determine at what dose does added inulin fibers in food cause unwanted gastrointestinal disturbances.

Inulin is a soluble dietary fiber found naturally in plant foods like onions, leeks, garlic, asparagus, bananas, artichokes and chicory root. It is increasingly being added to what are normally low-fiber foods in order to boost their fiber content; in these cases, chicory root extract is becoming the inulin additive of choice. 

In the study, twenty-six healthy men and women aged 18-60 who usually age less than 15 g fiber per day were given a combination of either placebo, 5 g oligofructose (short chain fiber), 10 g oligofructose, 5 g inulin (longer-chain fiber) or 10 g inulin in a meal. They each took "fiber challenges" over a 10 week period with a 1-week washout period. Tolerance was reported by frequency of one of seven GI domains: gas/bloating, nausea, flatulence, GI cramping, diarrhea, constipation and GI rumbling. 

The study found that oligofructose and inulin in "practical doses" were generally well-tolerated. Ten-gram oligofructose caused the most symptoms, but the study pointed out that if spread out over the day, even high doses of fiber can be well-tolerated.

The bottom line application was: "Excellent sources of fiber" (5 g/serving) was well-tolerated for both short and long chain inulin. Furthermore, the chain length of inulin product affects tolerance. Inulin is fermented slowly and steadily so it is likely more well-tolerated than shorter chain oligofructose which is fermented rapidly. 

It is important to note that one of the authors on the paper is a senior manager of regulatory and scientific affairs at Cargill, Inc. Cargill's extensive product list does include inulin additives like Oliggo-Fiber Inulin, the health benefits of which are most likely overstated on the Oliggo-Fiber product page.

Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidants Bar

With the introduction of their FiberPlus Antioxidants bars, Kellogg's is going head to head with General Mills' popular FiberOne bars. Previous Kellogg's bar offerings didn't have much in the way of nutrition: the Special K Cereal Bars had less than 1 gram of fiber and just 1 gram of protein for 9 grams of sugar - basically a breakfast cookie, that with only 90 calories and no fiber or protein, left you feeling pretty hungry, pretty quickly.

The new FiberPlus bars are very similar to the original FiberOne bars when it comes to the Nutrition Facts panel: FiberPlus has 120-130 calories per bar compared to FiberOne's 140 (although FiberOne bars recently came out with a 90 calorie option...more of a bite than a bar really.) 

Both FiberPlus and FiberOne bars have 9 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein. The fiber in both comes from an isolated fiber: chicory root fiber or chicory root extract (an inulin derivative). Remember that isolated fibers are the ones manufacturers are increasingly using to bump up fiber in otherwise low-fiber foods. The extent of the health benefits of isolated vs. intact (naturally-occuring) fiber in foods is not entirely known; and, if you're not used to eating them regularly, in some people they can cause bloating, gas and other unfavorable GI side effects.

FiberPlus bars come in 3 flavors: Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Almond and Chocolate Peanut Butter. I've tasted all 3 - thanks to samples provided by Kellogg's - and I have to say they are quite good, if not rather sweet. These are by no means ideal for meal replacement, - they're more of a high-fiber dessert, but they do also make a good between-meal snack if you're on the go. You can follow Kellog's Fiber team LadyFibarista on Twitter to get product updates and coupons.

Last word of advice: don't get romanced by the front-of-packaging claims on foods like FiberPlus and FiberOne bars that shout, "35% Daily Value of Fiber." While these are "excellent sources of fiber" (meaning more than 20% of the daily value per serving), we should all be striving to get the majority of our fiber from foods that are naturally high in fiber, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and things like dried peas and beans. A bar here and there can help you fill gaps and a high-fiber bar is a better choice than a high-fat, high-sugar granola bar or candy bar - but keep in mind, "If it looks like a cookie and it tastes like a cookie...it probably is a cookie."